Carlsbad considers expanding curbside dining

Plan includes converting restaurants’ parking spots into patios

CARLSBAD — “Curbside dining” could soon take on a new meaning in downtown Carlsbad.

A revitalization program under way in the city’s Village area includes plans to allow restaurants to expand their outdoor eating areas by converting the parking spaces in front of their businesses into patios.

The concept would be a first in San Diego County, but has been successful in Long Beach and a few other California cities, Steve Gibson of the Urban Space Consulting Group told the Carlsbad City Council in an update on the plans at a meeting last week.

The Village revitalization project began in March under a three-year, $726,000 contract that the City Council approved with Gibson’s consulting group. The plan includes improved lighting, a greater emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and a host of other changes intended to enhance downtown Carlsbad’s economy.

Belynn Gonzales, owner of Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant on State Street, said Wednesday that she’s thrilled about the possibility of expanding her outdoor dining area.

“It would be especially nice to have Garcia’s be a pioneer of it,” said Gonzales, seated at a table in the restaurant where she has worked for 35 years. Her grandparents opened Garcia’s in 1960.

Gonzales and Gibson say the downtown area already has plenty of parking, with large public lots within walking distance. The few spaces that would be used by restaurants would hardly be missed, they said, and the benefits would more than compensate.

“It enhances the village,” Gonzales said, by slowing traffic and encouraging people to walk.

Under the proposal, the area in front of restaurants that was designated as parking would be raised to sidewalk level and separated from traffic with barriers for safety, Gonzalez said. The space would be designed with a theme to match the front of each restaurant, and the work would be paid for by restaurant owners.

The expansion would especially benefit restaurants on the east side of State Street, which has narrow sidewalks with little room for tables, Gonzales said. On the west side, sidewalks are wider and restaurants such as Vigilucci’s and Caldo Pomodoro already have numerous outdoor tables.

Curbside dining, if approved by the city, probably would be allowed throughout the Village for restaurants that want it, the consultant said.

Carlsbad’s Village area extends roughly from the Pacific Ocean east to Interstate 5, and from the Buena Vista Lagoon south to Carlsbad Village Drive.

Cindy Vigne and her husband, Tom, own the 32-year-old Vigne Antiques on State Street. She said they are impressed with the revitalization project and what it will bring.

“It’s fantastic,” Cindy Vigne said Thursday of the plans.

“They have come up with a lot of good ideas and they are working well with the city,” she said of the consultants.

Those ideas include live street music on Friday nights, more LED lights in downtown trees and more bicycle racks.

“There are already a lot of cyclists in the Village,” said Ashley Westman, project manager for Urban Place, but before this summer there were only two or three public bike racks downtown. The city recently added about a dozen bike racks and plans to install 80 more.